Cote De Pablo Has An Idea For How To Bring A Killed-Off 'NCIS' Villain Back For The 'Tony And Ziva' Spinoff

One of "NCIS’" earliest recurring antagonists was Rudolf Martin’s Ari Haswari, a rogue Mossad agent who’d become the leader of an Al-Qaeda cell in Washington D.C. Ari’s biggest act of villainy on the show was without a doubt killing Sasha Alexander’s Caitlin Todd in the Season 2 finale (if you look closely, you’ll notice an accidental goof from Michael Weatherly in that scene), and then in the two-part Season 3 premiere, he was revealed to be the half-brother of Cote de Pablo’s Ziva David. She was forced to kill Ari by the end of the aptly-named “Kill Ari (Part 2)” in order to save Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs, yet despite being dead for so long, de Pablo has an idea for how the upcoming "Tony & Ziva" spinoff could bring the character back.

The latest episode of de Pablo and Weatherly’s new podcast "Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch" featured Martin as a guest, and towards the end of their conversation, Martin mentioned how sometimes he gets requests to audition for the "NCIS" spinoffs, but he inevitably turns them down since he knows he won’t be cast given his already-prominent role on the flagship series.